Lashing about the back of the jeep heavily with his harisen, Sanzo uncannily
kept his balance as he stood facing the two miscreants who had gotten out of
control once again with their arguing. He had one knee on his seat and one hand
gripping the back of it, his left arm swinging wildly yet accurately at Goku
and Gojyo, his body shifting its weight in instinctive response to the
movements of the jeep. "If I hear one more word out of either of you, I
swear I'll leave both your ignorant corpses here to feed the other vermin
littering the roadside!"

Staring angrily at the two idiots, he finally subsided, feeling satisfied that
he had sufficiently cowed them for the time being. He swung back around and sat
down, ignoring Hakkai's laugh and comment as to the energy of the other two 'kids'.

However, a scarce minute later, he heard Gojyo's quiet jibe, "Heh, he
called you vermin."

Of course Goku responded, "Yeah? Well, he called you vermin, too."

"You don't even know what vermin means."

"I don't have to know. If Sanzo called you one, it's definitely an insult.
Vermin." Rapidly, the argument recommenced and had Sanzo swinging around
again, this time with his gun.

"Gods fucking dammit! You really do want to die, don't you?"
He swung his gun back and forth between the two empty headed idiots. They were
now babbling about behaving, their arms up and covering their heads for
protection. Figuring blowing their brains out wouldn't really change anything,
since they were already brainless, Sanzo still fired a bullet over their cowed
heads in warning before tucking the gun back into his robes. He sat back down,
placing an unlit cigarette between his lips. Idiots.

This time the two in back apparently took his warning seriously, as they
subdued their arguing, and peace finally descended over the rambling jeep. As
things quieted down, Sanzo found his thoughts turning to Goku, as they had so
many times since they had left town two days ago.

He'd made a grave mistake.

Every single kiss on the mouth he had been forced to endure in his life – and
there had been blessedly few – had been the fastest way to shut his ardor down.
The smell of someone else's breath and the taste of their saliva intermingling
with his own had been revolting. Repulsive. Kissing Goku was supposed to
reiterate this. It was meant to douse this irrational obsession he had for his
ward in ice cold water.

Kissing Goku should have been distasteful. Offensive. But at the first touch of
the saru's lips on his, he'd been overwhelmed by sensations foreign to him in
the sense that he had never felt them from a kiss before. Those sensations had
been far from distasteful or offensive. Or even revolting. They made him take
the kiss to actually sliding his tongue into the monkey's mouth, sure that the
feel of Goku's tongue on his would repulse him to the degree needed to push the
boy away.

It didn't work.

Instead, for two days the memory had been replaying itself in his mind. He
could almost imagine he could still taste Goku on his tongue and feel the saru's
lips working against his own. It didn't make sense. Goku hadn't even brushed
his teeth yet that morning; his mouth should have been rancid, not earthy and
stable and reminding him of expensive, barrel-aged brandy. And, he was finding,
about as addictive as alcohol. He unconsciously caressed the filter of his
cigarette with his tongue as if he were caressing Goku's tongue instead.

That kiss simply emphasized how weak he was. Weak, and a coward. He was ashamed
at how he had fled the hotel room within sight of his companions. Fleeing from
the fear that he would not be able to resist the carnal feast Goku was
innocently tempting him with.

He glanced into the side mirror and found the reflection of his ward staring blindly
at the roadside, a stupid smile curving his lips and a dazed look to his golden
eyes. It was a common expression for the saru these two days past and Sanzo
sighed, resigned. Just as he had learned to expect, he soon heard the saru's
call - now taking on a possessive, hungry quality as it had since the kiss. It
had also grown much stronger. He grew angry as he felt his body respond,
growing aroused and craving the idiot monkey.

He'd been trying to block the call, erecting barriers to keep himself from
getting a hard-on whenever Goku's longing triggered the summons, but so far his
success has been minimal. The damn monkey wanted to get laid and Sanzo was
slowly going insane. He had to find the idiot a brothel, and soon, before his
own control broke.

He tried to turn away from his ward's reflection in the mirror and only managed
to pull his eyes away from the saru's face to his hand, the fingers resting
just below the boy's shoulder with his jaw balanced on top of the wrist. He
knew that hand was smaller than his, the fingers shorter but thicker, probably
because of wielding his nyoi-bo. Then again, his whole body was compact and
strong.

Visually tracing the reflection of Goku's hand, his mind imagined those fingers
traveling over his skin, slipping between the warm cheeks of his ass and
sinking one of those thick digits inside him. He shifted slightly in his seat
as he watched Goku's image in the mirror, captivated, losing himself within his
ward's reflection and his own imagination. He didn't consciously notice when
the saru's siren call stopped. It wasn't until those golden orbs slowly turned
and met his eyes in the mirror, becoming molten and his smile sultry, that
Sanzo - alarmed at being caught staring - was finally able to wrench his gaze
away.

Only to focus on a rockslide blocking their route. "Hakkai!"

But the youkai was already slamming on the brakes, bringing Jeep to a
screeching halt.

"What the hell?!"

"Hakkai!"

The voices of Gojyo and Goku cried out from the back as Hakkai brought Jeep to
an abrupt stop. Gojyo actually flew half over Hakkai's seat, draping himself
over the healer's shoulder and Sanzo felt Goku's body slam against the back of
his seat. Sanzo braced himself against the dashboard to keep himself from
flying over Jeep's windshield. He saw that they had missed running headlong
into the slide by mere inches.

Once steadied, Gojyo pulled himself off of Hakkai and sat back, looking at the
mountain road behind them, fairly straight and open. "Fuck, Hakkai. Don't
take me wrong but, do you even watch where you're driving or is it all up to
Hakuryuu not to run us into anything?"

"Hakuryuu's not doing so good at that either," Goku mumbled, peeling
himself off the back of Sanzo's seat. Hakuryuu kyuu'ed in protest and Hakkai
ran a soothing hand over the dash, his smile hard and a bit offended.

The loud crashing sound of falling rock stopped any further remarks as all eyes
were turned to the road behind them, where more rocks were falling and
obliterating the road they had just traveled.

A low chuckle brought their attentions to a black-haired god sprawled at the
top of the first rockslide. "I see you've encountered the trap set here
for you. I trust you are not harmed, Son Goku?"

Instantly, all four men in the jeep were on alert. Sanzo's shoureijuu was
gripped tight in his hand and he glared at the War Prince, Homura, his dislike
of the god rising instantly to the surface.

Hakkai was the first to speak, "Are you the cause of this rockslide?"
he demanded. He readied a ball of chi, although whether for offense or defense
was yet to be seen.

"Me? Surely, Field Marshal Tenpou, you'd think me a better strategist than
that?" Homura smiled, his mismatched eyes straying to Goku. "When I
come to collect what I want, I won't use such underhanded means. I'll just come
and take him."

A low growling sound, along with the cocking of a gun, came from the front
passenger seat of the jeep, "Fucking son of a bitch."

Homura frowned at Sanzo's choice of words and the others in the jeep mimicked
Homura's expression, confused as to why the monk would react so to the war god's
comment. Sanzo rarely let Homura's words rile him.

"Sanzo?" Hakkai questioned the monk.

"Genjo Sanzo! Prepare to meet your doom!"

All heads now turned to the left, with the exception of Homura's, who's head
turned to the right as he was stationed opposite the ikkou, to observe the
fairly large group of youkai lying in ambush.

"Heh, he actually said, 'Prepare to meet your doom'. How lame is that?"
Goku's derogatory tone brought a laugh to Hakkai who turned his head to smile
at Goku. Sanzo quieted as he assessed the situation, his eyes returning to what
he considered the greater threat – Homura. But Homura wasn't looking at him; he
was watching the boy seated behind him.

Goku.

"I think there is where you will find the cause of the road block,"
the war god's silky timbre grated on Sanzo's nerves as Homura gestured to the
demons.

Out of the corner of his eye, Sanzo could see the leader of the latest group of
incompetent assassins stand straighter as he tried to back up his earlier
comment, "Your journey ends here, Priest! We will take your sutra and
leave your lifeless corpse for the scavengers to feed on. Die!"

"Die!" the rest of the demons screamed as the horde surged forward.

Sanzo missed the similarity to his own comment to the boys in the back minutes
ago as he stared hard at the god. He wasn't aware of how antagonistic his
stance was as he vaguely noticed his companions scrambling out of the jeep.

Finally, Homura's gaze locked on his own and the god smiled, "Are you
capable of taking care of this little challenge, Konzen? I'm curious to see how
you manage."

Sanzo realized he was growling low in his throat and swung his gun toward the
charging demons, climbing out of the jeep as he fired. The others were already
deep in the fighting.

Homura had an interest in Goku. An interest consisting of more than just his
charge's spiritual power. Sanzo knew that that sick god would drag Goku off to
his bed if given the chance. An image of Goku, naked and lying on a bed, draped
in a long heavy chain, flashed to mind.

Fucking pedophile. Goku was just a brat kid. What was wrong with that sick
asshole that he could harbor such-

Sanzo's thoughts were suddenly cut off as he realized that he harbored the same
desires that the 'sick' war god harbored. He was the 'fucking pedophile'. Son
of a bitch.

Goku's joyous shout returned Sanzo's attention to the battle. If he didn't
start concentrating on the demon horde, then the others would gather a higher
death count than him.

Unacceptable.

He spat out his cigarette and picked out a demon close to Gojyo, shooting his
bullet cutting through red strands of hair before it dissolved the enemy
youkai.

"Fuck! Son of a bitch, Sanzo! Watch where you're shooting that thing!"
Gojyo cried out. Sanzo replied by popping off four more rounds, killing four
more demons Gojyo was engaged with and stealing the kills from him. "Dammit,
Monk!"

Sanzo paused briefly to reload. His mind seething with conflicting emotions, he
ended the life of another demon, then swung around and emptied his gun straight
at Homura. Blurred ripples radiated out from the points of impact, briefly
obliterating the dark haired god and drawing those mismatched eyes his way -
but away from Goku. The god tilted his head to the side, as if inquiring as to
what it was Sanzo wanted with him.

Sanzo actually took a couple of steps towards the war god, the raven-haired man
smiling invitingly as if they were about to engage in a woman's tea party.
Scowling ferociously, he popped out the spent shells in his gun and loaded new
ones. He didn't care if his bullets were ineffective (ok, he did care,
but he always felt better after shooting a few) but he fully intended to drive
this threat away.

Until a large pointy-eared demon scrambled into his path blocking him from the
god. Vaguely noting the diamond marking under the demon's left eye and the long
knife he wielded, he fired and disintegrated the youkai. Another rapidly took
his place and he fired again, finally admitting that he needed to deal with the
youkai before confronting the god.

He let himself fall into the rhythm of aim, shoot, reload as he decimated the
attacking youkai, stealing Gojyo's kills whenever he could. Just because he was
protecting himself from attackers while keeping an eye on the seductive war
prince doesn't mean he couldn't multi-task well enough to aggravate the
erokappa too. He was good like that.

Before long, the horde was dispatched and the sound of clapping hands brought
their attentions back to the reclining god, who'd rested at his leisure,
observing the battle. "That was quite well done. You fought superbly, Son
Goku. But then you usually do. Have you yet grown strong enough to battle me?"

"We can find out right now!" Goku gripped his nyoi-bo and challenged
the war god, not seeming in the least bit tired from the recent battle. Homura
smirked and trailed his eyes over Goku's aggressive stance and Sanzo rapidly
reloaded his gun, practically snarling.

"Another time, Son Goku. When you are not so battle weary." With a
final smile and a knowing look at Sanzo, the god phased out and disappeared.

"Son of a bitch." The words were spoken softly, but the monk's voice
held more venom than the deadliest viper.

The demons dead and Homura gone, the group had nothing more to do than scale
the rock slide and continue their journey. After they were back inside Jeep and
on their way, Gojyo leaned forward to say to Sanzo, "Getting greedy monk?
Starting to want things that don't belong to you?"

Sanzo froze, thinking Gojyo had learned about his obsession over the saru.

"Those demons were mine. You had no business taking them out."

The blond relaxed, "Perhaps you should try to be faster. You know, like
when you're screwing some desperate whore." He fished out his pack of
smokes and shook a stick out to replace the one lost in the fight.

"Hey!" Gojyo grabbed the side of Sanzo's seat, shoving Goku over, and
leaned into the front to look the monk in the face. "I'll have you know
women enjoy my company, and not because they're desperate. And they're ladies,
not whores."

Sanzo stared at him a moment, then smirked and looked away. Gojyo frowned,
thinking. When it hit him, his eyes went wide and he yelled, "And I always
take the time to make sure they finish first!"

The sound of Goku laughing faded away as the ikkou drove off.

***

Later, after they'd stopped for the day and decided to make camp - seeing as
the next town was still a day away - Sanzo wandered off to have a smoke and get
a little peace and quiet. They'd camped by a river pool and the priest walked
to the opposite side of the pool into the surrounding forest, lighting up a
smoke. He pulled strong on the cigarette, his frustration coming through as he
smoked the stick down. He needed to make decisions, to take action, and fix
this whole mess.

Staring blindly into the trees, Sanzo smoked in silence and, when done with the
cigarette, extinguished it under the sole of his boot. His sandals were packed
away; the rough terrain they'd entered making them unsuitable and his toes felt
strangely bereft with the feel of his big toe encased in a tabi sock but
without the cord of his sandal slipped in.

His eyes traveled up the mountainside. He needed to decide whether to take the
road that circled around the mountain range they were faced with - which would
take them weeks longer - or to take the high road over the mountains.
Apparently, many of the towns and villages had been overtaken by youkai the
higher up the mountain they went, as was evident by their earlier
confrontation. When he returned to the camp, he meant to speak again with
Hakkai about their route and also about the towns, specifically about whether
he'd figured out which town or city held the brothel he was looking for.

He considered lighting another cigarette, when he became aware of the road's
dirt clinging to his skin. The battle earlier also contributed to the grime
coating him and he suddenly had a need to get clean.

Deciding to take a soak in the river pool they were camped by before returning
to camp, he walked to the farthest spot from their site, wanting privacy. He
was just about to step clear of the trees toward the spring when movement
caught his eye. Pausing, he spied Goku's head and upper body emerging from the
water. He huffed and almost turned away but rivulets of water streaming over
bronzed skin caught his attention.

Goku hadn't noticed him so he stayed, concealed within the undergrowth and
trees. He told himself that he was simply waiting to see if the saru was
leaving so he could take his turn, that he wasn't caressing his eyes over the
toned body slowly emerging from the water, all wet and glistening. Goku's hair
was plastered dark against his head and the boy reached up and brushed away his
bangs, showing the coronet in a burnished crown around his skull.

Goku was walking off to the right of him, towards the rocks and shallows, and
Sanzo watched that compact, powerful body slowly bare itself before his very
eyes. Sanzo was not hoping the boy was naked. Not at all.

After all, he'd seen Goku naked before. Many times. Even before this bothersome
trip, where the group had been forced into such close quarters, he and Goku had
shared the baths at the monastery many times. He could easily remain unaffected
by the unexpected display.

However, as soon as the saru emerged enough to show that he was, indeed, very
naked, Sanzo sighed. He watched as Goku waded up to one of the larger rock
formations sprouting up from the spring, where the water was only as deep as
the boy's mid-thigh. There he paused. His head slowly turned to assess the
surrounding landscape and the tilt of his chin told Sanzo he was sniffing the
air. Alarmed, Sanzo checked the air current and determined himself to
thankfully be downwind of the monkey.

Nevertheless, he was leaving right now. He was not going to stand here and spy
on his ward, absolutely not. He did not have any interest in what his ward may
look like as nature made him. Not one bit.

He watched as Goku leaned back comfortably against the rock. His head still
turned to scan the area, apparently concentrating primarily in the direction
they were camped, when he reached down and cupped himself. Sanzo's breath
caught, trapped in his lungs, as he realized what Goku was about to do.

That's it. I am not going to play at some sick peeping tom pervert and watch
Goku jerk himself off. I'm leaving right now!

And he moved away – to the side so that he had a slightly better view.

This is ridiculous. How could that idiot monkey just stand there
masturbating where anyone could come upon him? Fuck! We'd just run into Homura
earlier today. That immoral war god would be all over Goku like Gojyo on a
whore if he were to see this! Shit, Gojyo could even come by! He quickly
scanned the trees, his ears listening intently for the clink of chains while
his eyes scanned for a flash of red hair.

A quiet sound from Goku drew his attention back to his ward. One hand rested on
the rock at his back as Goku's other hand stroked up and down his erect cock.
Sanzo was impressed at what he was seeing. An erection behind a pair of tented
shorts did not, apparently, show enough to give an accurate judgment of size.
If Sanzo needed more proof over whether or not Goku was still a kid, he had it
now.

The youth rested against the rock, his expression showing pleasure and longing.
Sanzo had time to form one thought, Oh, shit!, before the monkey's call
hit him face on. He staggered a step back and his body tightened instantly,
growing aroused and hungry. Starved. He reached up to wipe the beads of sweat
from his upper lip and spared a quick glance to his hand. He was instantly
disgusted with himself; why would he worry about getting a nosebleed from
watching Goku pleasure himself? But there was nothing there but the clear
dampness of sweat.

He turned his eyes back to Goku. The boy – no, not a boy any longer – the young
man didn't seem to be in any hurry, his hand lazily stroking up and down
the hard length in his grip. Sanzo took another step back and came up against a
tree directly behind him. His breathing was already growing strained and Sanzo
gripped himself through his robes, trying to ease the ache of his sudden
erection. Glancing around at his own surroundings, he gave in to impulse and
parted his robes, exposing the front of his jeans. He made short work of the
button front and, within seconds, had his throbbing length gripped firmly in
his own hand.

He matched his strokes to Goku's. A feeling of guilt flowed over him, knowing
he was doing the forbidden. This wasn't some dark bathroom in the middle of the
night. It was out in the open, in the light of day, and Sanzo finally accepted
the fact that he wanted his charge's body.

But wanting and taking were two totally different things. Goku should be kept
pure. Innocent. And Sanzo knew that if he stripped off his clothes and waded
out to Goku right now, the monkey would accept him with open arms. He reached
behind himself and gripped the tree he was leaning against to keep himself from
doing just that because he could already feel the cool imaginary water lapping
at his legs and thighs as he crowded Goku's tanned, compact body against that
rock and pressed his own naked, aroused body tight to him. The imagery drove
his passion higher and he thrust hard into his fist as Goku's siren call sang
to him ever louder.

His eyes flicked from Goku's face to his massaged cock as he kept himself in
rhythm with Goku. His passion wanted to speed up the caress of his fingers over
the heated length of his cock but he forced himself to match Goku - his punishment
for doing this in the first place. Once again.

Even though he'd seen Goku naked before, he'd never seen him aroused, and he
found himself analyzing Goku's cock, as much as he could see from several yards
away through the saru's fist.

It was perfect.

He wanted that hard length stroking within the cleft of his ass, rubbing
against the sensitive nerves rimming his opening. Pressing in.

His ass clenched in response to his wishful thoughts and his hand gripped his
cock harder, his forefinger caressing the hypersensitive seam at the underside,
imagining Goku's cock sinking into him. He panted through what would have been
a moan, staying as quiet as he could. Goku's head was constantly swaying
around, watching his surroundings as he jerked off, and Sanzo mimicked him,
paranoid he'd be caught but unable to stop.

Come on, Goku. Hurry. Speed it up. Sanzo again scanned the trees, Someone
could come along any second.

As if in response to Sanzo's thoughts, Goku began to pump into his fist, faster
and harder. Sanzo concurred, thrusting into his own fist. His grip on the tree
behind him now helped to keep his knees from buckling as his balls drew up
tight to his body and heat pooled hot into the lowest regions of his belly.

He was now using a fair amount of will power to hold his orgasm back. He wanted
to time it with the saru's. Thankfully, the monkey was speeding things up more,
soft grunts and low moans floating over the lapping waves to reach his ears.
Dimly, he thought Goku needed to learn how to keep his sounds quiet, but at the
moment he was relishing the intonations of pleasure floating to his ears.

He wanted to close his eyes, his head thrown back in abandon as he crested the
summit of his climax, but he resisted. He kept his eyes on Goku, absorbing the
sight of that toned, perfect body undulating in the water, waves licking up
over Goku's thighs and kissing his balls.

Oh, how he envied the stream Goku stood in.

Goku was pumping himself rapidly now, and although his hand was moving too fast
for Sanzo to keep up, still he tried. His gritted his teeth, knowing he was
fighting a losing battle.

Come on, Goku. Come, come, come. He started to whisper the order, "Come,
Goku," as he gave in to his own need to come. He bit down on his lip as
the blinding flash overwhelmed him, biting back his groan of guilty ecstasy. He
saw Goku's back arch and heard the groan he himself refused to voice issue from
the golden youkai. Gasping, he witnessed what looked to be streams of white
shoot out from Goku's cock and splatter over the water. His own stream of white
splattered over the shrubs and weeds, his hands massaging the last few drops
out.

Goku was visibly relaxing, his body reclining sensuously against the hard rock
at his back. A smile graced the youth's lips as he gazed up into the sky, and
the call that had grabbed Sanzo in its grip finally faded away.

He was able to tear his eyes away from his ward and looked down, only to
realize he'd managed to drip down the front of his robes and onto his right
boot.